---

Early the next morning, they all head out of the inn with high spirits and sated appetites. But, as they walk towards the bridge that leads out of the village, their chatter quickly dies down as they see a crowd of villagers up ahead. Luhan smiles a bit as Minseok's eyes twinkle with anticipation while Kyungsoo lets out a groan behind them.

As they near the crowd though, Luhan begins to survey the scene with heightened trepidation while his energy-levels raise to maximum capacity. Among the animated chatter and whispers, he makes out something about a few villagers dying due to some giant something that's now currently blocking the bridge.

"Hey," A man greets once they're standing with the crowd. "You lot thinkin' of goin' that way?" They nod. "Hah, I'd think of another route then."

"And why's that?" Kyungsoo asks.

"Because o' the big ol' mudcrab that's blocking the way!" Another stranger adds.

Chanyeol's face instantly pales at the words 'mudcrab' while Luhan and the others look at each other with confusion.

"...How um, how big of a mudcrab are we talking though?" Kyungsoo then asks, before getting shown an example with the second stranger's arms stretched wide apart. His eyebrows lift at that. "Oh."

Jongin, Minseok and Luhan then angle their heads past the crowd to actually look at the mudcrab, and Luhan flinches when the mudcrab's eyes suddenly focus on them. He quickly looks away at the eye contact, his heart pumping out more magic, and turns to focus back on the other conversations.

Apparently, some drunk villager encroached on the mama mudcrab's territory late last night and killed a few of her babies. So, now she's out to get her revenge and has slowly made her way towards the village--killing anyone who tries to stop her or get in her way.

Luhan suddenly gets more anxious as he looks at everyone else's scared expressions, especially Chanyeol's, and he huddles a bit more into himself as he tries to think of a way past this obstacle. The bridge is the only way to leave this village by foot, and seeing as how they can't fly, and he definitely can't swim long enough to be able to somehow sneak under the bridge--there's really only one thing that they can do. Or well, two.

Either they turn around and give up. Or...they deal with the mudcrab.

And his companions seem to be on the same page as him, seeing as how Minseok calls for them to have a 'team huddle' away from the crowd. "Okay um, so you guys probably already know what I'm gonna say," Minseok says, once the five of them are away from the villagers.

"We have to get past that mudcrab, yeah," Kyungsoo replies with a frown.

"You guys, do we have to though?" Chanyeol asks, looking like he's about to cry. Luhan places a hand on his shoulder for a moment. "Can't we just like...swim underneath or something? I really can't stand even being near mudcrabs, okay? That's like my one fear."

"I can't swim though," Luhan says and Chanyeol groans with frustration.

Kyungsoo sighs and pushes up his glasses. "There's not much else we can really do, Chanyeol--I'm sorry. It's either we get past her, or we turn back and head home with our tails between our legs. And I dunno about you--but I'm not one to quit without trying."

Chanyeol just frowns some more at that and Kyungsoo turns to Jongin, his expression softening a bit. "How hostile is she, baby?" he asks.

Jongin quickly glances past the crowd again to look at the mudcrab before looking back down at his husband with a pout. "Too hostile to pacify--that's for sure."

"Dammit."

"Hey, what if we just used our brute force then?" Minseok asks, and the others look at him with disapproving looks. "Like not to kill her but to, ya know, shove her back into the water?"

Luhan then instantly imagines the scenario. Chanyeol would be too scared to move forward from where he is right now. The other villagers seem like they'd be too scared to help them too, and so Luhan and the other three could try pushing her before inevitably getting swiped and stomped. Yep, they'd be dead in about...two minutes flat.

"It's not gonna work," Luhan replies, before explaining the most probable outcome.

"Ugh, but how will we really know if we don't try though?" Minseok whines.

And Luhan, despite not wanting to argue with his crush, has to let him know what he thinks to keep him and the rest of them safe. So, he tells Minseok about the statistics and the other possible outcomes before his group becomes silent. Everyone seems to be thinking about what best to do before Chanyeol's eyes suddenly widen and he exclaims out a , oh my--oh I'm so dumb!

Luhan and the others look at him in surprise and watch as the taller furiously digs through his bag for something before he dramatically pulls out a glowing piece of parchment paper. Words written in a sleek cursive line the paper, as well as three signatures written on a line at the very bottom.

A contract?

"Um, and what are we lookin' at?" Kyungsoo asks, eyebrows furrowed.

"The answer to our problem," Chanyeol simply replies with a wide grin on his face.

-------

Back in Junmyeon's tavern, Jongdae's just splashing some water on his face to wake himself up when his friend Taemin comes bursting into his room while holding up his now flaming contract.

"Woah--what the ?!" Jongdae yells, hand clutched over his heart at the sudden intrusion.

Taemin just waves the contract wildly in his face and tells him to Come on!

Luckily for both of them, the contract isn't actually on fire but is just simulating the one that Chanyeol's actually holding, wherever he is. But holy skeever on a stick, why does Chanyeol need his help so early in the morning?!

With a sigh, Jongdae quickly dries off his face then runs to grab his flute and put on some shoes. Then, after double-checking to make sure he has everything, he runs to Taemin and clasps his hand tightly. And in a millisecond, instead of being in his cozy room at Junmyeon's tavern--he finds himself in Windsur, looking right at his other friends, the curious android, and a stranger in a blue robe.

There's also a crowd near the bridge that leads out of this place, but Jongdae's just more focused on finding out why he got summoned here in the first freakin' place. After his friends (except Chanyeol) get over the shock of him suddenly being here, they immediately begin to ask what the heck's going on.

"...It's a long story," Taemin says, and the others look at him with even more confusion.

"Um, d-did you just teleport him to us?" the android asks him.

"Uh, yeah?"

The android looks like he's short-circuiting on the inside as he takes that in.

"Just what the ," the stranger adds, gaping at Taemin. "I thought you guys were just myths not actually--"

"Hey, can we talk about the who's and the what's another time, please?" Jongdae finally says, stopping anymore off-topic conversations. He then turns to Chanyeol. "'Kay, where's the danger, Chanyeol? Seriously, like I literally just woke up a few minutes ago, ."

"Sunbeams, how are you real?!" Jongin suddenly blurts out to a flustered Taemin.

Jongdae ignores the rest of their conversation though in favor of glaring at his much taller friend.

"Dude, I'm sorry! But like, this is important. Just um, like don't get mad..." Chanyeol replies.

"What--why?"

"Well...we kinda have a mudcrab problem."

"What."

Then, after the stranger points towards somewhere on the bridge and Jongdae looks past the small crowd of villagers, he gets it. Or well, he sees it.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Kyungsoo simply replies.

"...'Kay, so--mudcrab problem--got it. But, now my question is, why's it so in' hostile in the first place?" He glances at the crowd before looking back up at Chanyeol. "Was it one of you or one of them?"

"Obviously it wasn't ing us! It was one of them! Some drunk guy killed its kids so it like got revenge!"

Jongdae's lips stretch into a thin line at that. "Hm, seems like they deserve what's comin' to 'em then."

"I know, but like come on, man. You know what kinda quest we're on and it's in our way. So like--can you just like charm it for me, please?" Chanyeol begs with an anticipative look on his face.

"Yeah, pretty please?" the stranger adds, and Jongin joins in while pouting.

Taemin laughs at their antics and Jongdae's lips quirk up a bit before he feels his stomach growl. "Kay, it depends...You guys got any food on ya?"

Chanyeol then turns to look at Kyungsoo, who blinks back in confusion before he seems to understand and digs through his bag for something. Then, he brings out a fresh-looking salmon steak and Jongdae's mouth instantly waters at the sight.

"Fine, I'm in," Jongdae says. He then turns to Taemin. "Leave a spot at the fire for me, 'kay?"

"Ehh, depends on my mood," Taemin replies, before laughing when Jongdae swats his arm. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'll tell Junmyeon you'll be back soon."

"Thanks," Jongdae says, smiling a bit at the mention of Junmyeon.

Then with a wink and a wave at the others, Taemin ports back home. And with the thought of getting some breakfast and with the safety of his friends on the line, Jongdae lifts his flute up from where it was dangling at his hip and begins walking towards the bridge.

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